Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit the South Dakota badlands, where a small pharmacy employed an ingenious marketing gimmick, and boomed into a business that draws millions … | Continue reading
In Tokyo’s vibrant restaurant scene, one can readily find cuisines from countries around the world. At Mesopotamia, customers can sample the cuisine of a people who do not have a modern nation-state of their own; one of the largest ethnic groups in the world without one. After th … | Continue reading
This small red-painted stave church is the most remote of the 28 original stave churches that still exist in Norway. It is located on the disused fishing village of Grip, an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, a 12-kilometer boat ride from Kristiansund. Grip Stavkyrkje was built i … | Continue reading
Kyoto’s Nokishita711 is probably the only place on earth where you can drink a cocktail flavored with raccoon meat barbacoa. Or water beetles. Or fish sperm. You might even taste all of them during one of the bar’s adventurous omakase cocktail tastings. It’s all part of what owne … | Continue reading
The Glen Rock is a massive glacial gneiss boulder and the namesake of the town in which it sits in the center. The Glen Rock is a New Jersey state landmark and a unique geological and cultural landmark for North Jersey. The 570-ton boulder has been sitting here since long before … | Continue reading
Sculpted by Leo Mol and dedicated in 1964 by then-President Dwight Eisenhower, this statue is one location honoring Ukrainian culture and history in Washington D.C., in addition to the Holodomor Memorial. Taras Shevchenko remains one the most preeminent poets and national heroes … | Continue reading
This small factory started making windmill pumps in the early 1900s. Now a museum rather than a factory, it contains complete manufacturing tools from that era and has modern touchscreen displays to describe how the machines work. The Kregel Windmill Factory Museum is a time caps … | Continue reading
Treme's Petit Jazz Museum's name does not do justice to the wealth of history captured within its walls. Al Jackson, the owner of the museum, takes you through a personal history of jazz music, from its earliest origins at Congo Square to its rise to what it means to New Orleans … | Continue reading
High in the western slopes of Mount Data sits a unique boulder. It's not the shape or sediment that sets it apart, but the unique inscriptions that decorate it. In the 1950s, a small group of local farmers stumbled across the boulder, noticing its collection of prehistoric petrog … | Continue reading
Given the demand on housing for staff and students in the city of Cambridge, the University of Cambridge in the 2010s began the process of building a new community with homes, shops, and other amenities on farmland to the northwest of the city center. This project is called the N … | Continue reading
The Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum is one of the central tourist attractions in southern Taiwan. The museum's iconic image is the massive seated Buddha statue which gazes down from the highest point of the museum's exterior. But few who pass through to admire the magisterial archite … | Continue reading
Reprinted with permission from The Well-Connected Animal Social Networks and the Wondrous Complexity of Animal Societies by Lee Alan Dugatkin, published by the University of Chicago Press. © 2024 by Lee Alan Dugatkin. All rights reserved. The Huangshan mountains were named by Tan … | Continue reading
Iscar, located in Valladolid, Spain, has a history dating back to ancient times, with evidence of human settlement since the prehistoric era. The town flourished during the Roman period known for its strategic location along trade routes. In the Middle Ages, Iscar became a fortif … | Continue reading
Though Geoffrey Chaucer's magnum opus The Canterbury Tales is frequently (and naturally) associated with the eponymous city, its stories are set elsewhere as the pilgrims narrate them on their journey to Canterbury. In the Prologue, Chaucer writes: "Bifel that in that season on a … | Continue reading
While traveling along an otherwise unremarkable stretch of the Raleigh-Durham Capital Area Greenway you may notice a series of colorful poles near an overpass bridge. These poles are components of an art project called "Alluvial Decoder". The poles have tracked the height of ever … | Continue reading
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we’ve got a fun collaboration with podcasters SuChin Pak And Kulap Vilaysack, hosts of Add to Cart. Hear them chat with Dylan about traveling with … | Continue reading
Originally founded circa 2300 B.C. as the capital of the Dilmun civilization, the Qal'at al-Bahrain, or the Bahrain Fort, is a major archaeological site and UNESCO World Heritage Site on the northern coast of Bahrain, facing the waters of the Persian Gulf. The fortification saw a … | Continue reading
THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE JUNE 1, 2024, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. If you've been paying attention to the growth in interest in West African culinary traditions, you've probably noticed the increased popularity of Jollof r … | Continue reading
From the outside, one could be forgiven for mistaking Paloma Coffee & Bakery for another generic coffee shop strung along Nassau Avenue. But step inside and a few critical differences start to emerge. First of all, there are the coffee beans—all of which are roasted in-house and … | Continue reading
Barbara of Portugal was born in 1711, and became Queen of Spain through her marriage to King Ferdinand VI. She was known for her intelligence and political acumen and exerted influence over her husband by helping him with the administration of Spain. One of the things the Queen C … | Continue reading
Located less than 10 miles west of Panjakent, Tajikistan, not far from the Uzbek border, lies the archaeological site of Sarazm. Known as the oldest human settlement in Central Asia, dubbed a "proto-urban site" by UNESCO, the site dates back to the 4th millennium BCE, dating back … | Continue reading
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. THIS EPISODE OF THE ATLAS OBSCURA PODCAST begins with a journey into the milky blue waters of Blue Spring State Park, where we meet Florida’s unofficial mascot: the manatee. For five months out … | Continue reading
Casa Navàs in Reus, Spain, is a must-visit for fans of modernist architecture due to its exquisite blend of artistic elements and innovative design. Built by renowned architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the building showcases his mastery of the Catalan Modernisme movement. Visit … | Continue reading
This story was originally published on SAPIENS and appears here with permission under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license. Recently, while giving a tour at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS), where I work, I spoke proudly about our collection of materials from the Jones-Miller site … | Continue reading
Atlas Obscura’s weekly crossword comes to us from Natan Last, a writer who also helps develop policy and digital products for refugees and asylum seekers. His work can be found in The Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, The New Yorker, and other publications, and he's currentl … | Continue reading
To the surprise of some, downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one of America’s foremost architectural marvels. In the 1920s, a flood of oil money rushed into town, leading to a boom of spectacular and ornate architecture, much of it in the popular Art Deco style of the time. Many of thes … | Continue reading
The Bulawayo Club building is a time capsule of a colonial gentlemen’s club. The building was erected in 1934. It remains an extravagant piece of Zimbabwean history. The distinction is still visible, showing the grace and disgrace of a bygone era. Like other similar establishment … | Continue reading
The North American Bigfoot Center serves as the center point of Cliff Barackman's research into Bigfoot, and all things "Squatchy." The staff are all individuals who have been involved in research at some level, and the museum itself highlights the more evidence-based material av … | Continue reading
On a pole by the highway in Upsala, Ontario, is a giant mosquito. With a knife and fork held in two of its legs, and a doomed man in two more, the mosquito appears to be on its way to a filling dinner. The steel structure, which has about a 16-foot wingspan, appears to be a refer … | Continue reading
This six-foot-tall headstone pays tribute to the Appalachian drink that changed the pace of human life: Mountain Dew. Located in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Johnson City, this unique monument is an homage to Mountain Dew's original bottle design. Brothers Ally and Barney Hartman ran … | Continue reading
The fishing structures consist of a platform built above the watercourse, usually with a rustic accommodation hut upon it. Derricks equipped with ropes and winches raise and lower large fishing nets in and out of the water. In the canal it is possible to catch all sorts of fish, … | Continue reading
This sculpture memorializes Eiler Larsen, better known as "the greeter," a man who welcomed all to the neighborhood with a wave. Larsen settled in Laguna Beach in 1942 after spending time in Europe, South America, and other parts of the United States. For decades, he welcomed loc … | Continue reading
At the back entrance to Forest Park, in Springfield, Massachusetts, there is a stylized bust of Omiskanoagwiah, the Wolf-People Medicine Man. It was carved from a single log by the Hungarian-born sculptor Peter Wolf Toth. Omiskanoagwiah is part of the Trail of the Whispering Gian … | Continue reading
Each week, Atlas Obscura is providing a new short excerpt from our upcoming book, Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (September 17, 2024). Can you imagine a crab the size of a cat scuttling around your backyard, climbing up trees, and quietly sneaking aw … | Continue reading
When entering a small town in Wisconsin, a 100-foot-tall Dutch windmill is probably not the first thing one expects to see. But that's exactly what you'll see in Little Chute. The windmill was designed as if it had been constructed in the 1850s in the Dutch region of North Braban … | Continue reading
On the 16th of October, 1908, Samuel F Cody, in his British Army Aeroplane No.1, made the first powered, manned, and sustained flight in the United Kingdom. Samuel Cody was an American Wild West showman who, having developed an interest in flight, settled in Farnborough, which wa … | Continue reading
Hopkinton is a relatively small town around 25 miles slightly southwest of Boston surrounded by other equally small towns in the Metrowest area. However, once a year this town becomes the focal point for national attention as hundreds of thousands of people participate in the Bos … | Continue reading
In 2008, kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato rescued a shiba inu named Kabosu from a puppy mill. Like many pet owners, she took a lot of photos of her dog and posted them on her blog. One of those photos wound up capturing the attention of the internet. In the now-iconic photo, Kabu … | Continue reading
After a short walk from the bustling center of Lyme Regis, Dorset, you will see her up on the walkway. Bronze and mysterious, Looking over the dark crags of the Jurassic coast that she once fossicked along. Though the fossilized skeleton of the Plesiosaurus that she discovered in … | Continue reading
Hope you brought your boards for this deep dive into the world of surfing. In the Atlas Obscura archives, we found the Hawaiian princess who saved the sport from extinction, the man who made California’s beaches a more inclusive place, and an intrepid community that turned surfin … | Continue reading
Shoyoen stands incongruously, at odds with the functional modern architecture of Kaohsiung, Taiwan's southern metropolis. This unique blend of Japanese and Western architecture, with a generous lawn and water garden, is a building out of time. The house was built in 1939 for the … | Continue reading
The exact origins of the modern term "fan" are disputed, but most look to the 1880s, where it was first used by American newspapers to describe particularly invested baseball enthusiasts. But “fan” was just one of the words the press, leagues, clubs, and baseball enthusiasts them … | Continue reading
The Art of the Americas is an unassuming museum that showcases modern art from Latin American and Caribbean artists. But its prized possession is a floor-to-ceiling room made completely out of blue tile and wood. | Continue reading
In the heart of Ipswich, a life-sized statue of Bobby Robson stands next to Portman Road Stadium. The statue was unveiled in 2002 in recognition of Robson's achievements with Ipswich town’s football team. Commissioned by the Ipswich Town Supporters’ Association, also funded by Ip … | Continue reading
The Soufrière Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat has been erupting since 1995. The Montserrat Volcano Observatory advises civilian authorities on the volcanic activity and allows visitors. At the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, you can see a clear view of the Sou … | Continue reading
Present-day Illinois is no Brazil or West Africa when it comes to arachnoid superlatives. There are no venomous tarantulas or nine-inch scorpions hiding among the prairie grass, but fossils discovered in the state’s coal measures prove that such critters did once roam the area wh … | Continue reading
Steele, South Dakota, is home to the world's largest sandhill crane sculpture, known by the nickname "Sandy." Made of steel and approximately 38.5 feet tall, the sculpture was made in the late 1990s by farmer and self-taught ironworker James Miller. Sandhill cranes are famous for … | Continue reading
In the summer of 1917, while war raged abroad, the town of Monticello, Illinois, just northeast of Decatur, found itself under siege by an inexplicable, foreign terror. On the night of Friday, June 13, Thomas Gullett, a butler, was out gathering flowers on Robert Allerton’s large … | Continue reading